The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1887-05-21
THE ELECTORAL VOTES.

THE ELECTORAL VOTES.
How They WIN BE Counted Under the Law
Recently Passed by Congress.
The present Congress has passed two
acts Of the very first Importance in ref
erence to the presidential Office. One
of these laws changed the order of sue
cession to the Office, so that hereafter
the Secretary of State, and after him
the other members of the Cabinet in
order, will become President in case of
the death of both the President and the
Vice-President. The other law, which
has been passed. supplies an omission
in the Constitution by providing q
method of counting the electoral votes.
All that the Constitution says in refer
ence to this matter is, that the President
of the Senate shall, in presence of the
Senate and House Of Representatives,
open all the certificates, and the votes
shall then be counted"
II there were no such thing as con-
tested or disputed elections, this would
be sufficient, since there could then be
no controversy as to what were ''votes."
and every person who could read. write
and do simple sum In arithmetic,
would come to the same result in count
ing the votes. But, in fact. there have
been puzzling questions after several
elections, beginning with that of 1920
and ending with that of 1876. Only in
the last case, however. would the decis-
ion of disputed questions affect the final
result. Although it has been commended,
not without plausible arguments to sup
port the contention. that the President
of the Senate has the right to decide
what votes shall be counted, Congress
has claimed and exercised the right;
and it is the theory of the act just passed
that the two Houses are the final judges
of what are votes to be counted.
In one case, however. Congress gives
up this privilege of decision absolutely.
and this constitutes the most interesting
and valuable feature of the new act.
Any State may now provide by its own
laws for the trial and determination of
all contests and questions relating to
the choice of electors. If a decision
upon such questions has been made at
least six days before the day when the
electors are to meet and give their votes
for President and Vice President, the
votes given by the persons so deter
mined to have been chosen can not be
rejected, even by q unanimous vote of
both Houses. The act contains many
provisions which it would be well to
state, If we had the space. We may
say, briefly, that in the case of dispute
which has not been passed upon by
q State tribunal, Congress becomes the
arbiter, but in such way that. except
in very extraordinary cases, the worst
that can happen is that the State will
lose its electoral vote. Votes of con-
testing electors can not be counted at
all unless both Houses agree that they
are the true votes of the State. In
order to give time for the State tri-
bunals to act, the day set for the elect
DTS to meet and vote is changed from
December to January, so that there
will be two full months between the
popular vote for electors in November
and the actual choice of President.
While the whole act is wise and ju-
iicious measure, passed by both |
branches of Congress without d.
7ision, and supported by members Of |
both parties, its great value, as we have
already said, is in that section which |
permits each State to secure absolutely |
he counting of its own vote. 1t is only |
necessary for the State Legislature to |
bass law referring every contest over |
he choice of electors to one of its
courts, which ought to be the highest
'ourt Of appeal. When this has been
lone, every question As to the vote Of
hat State will be decided in advance,
md Congress will have no power either
o dispute the finding. or to throw out
he votes. Such dangerous contest
s that in 1877 can never again arise
Rostkb's Companion.